Week in Pop: Julia Anrather, Passive Tones, Snuff Redux

Julia Anrather

Sitting in the velvet seat with Julia Anrather; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Star of stage, screen & production fame Julia Anrather presents us with a premiere listen to her single “Closer” taken from her forthcoming debut EP Quentin available in 2017. Seen in the web series “The Pioneers“, performing in Taylor Mac’s 24 Decades of Popular Music as Dandy Minion, the Ed Iskandar directed show “The Mysteries“, founder of the Brooklyn/Catskills company Nearth Thing Productions & countless other appearances & projects—Julia’s music is something held over from the greatest creative fabrics of Americana productions. Anrather’s big vision for concept & fine arts shines through in her own musical crafts where classic country western approaches provided something of a timeless, cinematic sense of sophistication & presence of grandeur.

Julia Anrather’s “Closer” finds the NYC artist beckoning you to walk closer to the edge & to the light. Worlds of wants & itchy needs are executed in a big time arrangement suited for the cineplex or a premium cable channel mini-series theme composition. The song opens with Julia’s lo-fi hums as she initiates a slow dance that is measured in the motions of the slow weaving maneuvers of chord rhythms that steps with fancy footwork toward the allure of a sensuous day dream. The reiterated recitations of “come a little bit closer” are cast in whirling refrain that seduces with shimmering harmonies & howling chords & whirling organ frenzies. Anrather orchestrates the entire event to move with the effectiveness of an orchestral-like heavyweight of a big band, where implied & implicit items stir in the aphrodisiac-esque effect of taking one too many turns on the merry-go-round or tila-a-whirl at your local county fair. Julia provided us with the following exclusive preface/prelude to “Closer” with the following candid words:

“Closer” is a song about the desire for self-actualization, wishing you could finally be in and do your life the way you know you could. But like everything, the song is also about sex—desire for self-actualization mapped onto desire for sexual satisfaction. I feel like there’s a way to capture time, make it slow down, by figuring out your genuine self and then living and acting from that space and this is a song about that. And maybe about orgasms.